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Originally posted by mgoblue101415 I've always felt, like others mentioned, that those with disabilities would be given a free pass.

Now, I'm thinking maybe they don't need it.

This past Sat, at the end of the Pastor's sermon, he told a story of a couple whose son was born with extreme mental retardation. And this isn't going to be exact, but it's pretty much what the pastor said.

This handicap was bad enough that they put him in a home. They went and saw him every week though. And like you cka, they were concerned about his spiritual side. How could he accept Jesus when he barely understood what was going on. What was going to happen to him after death.

One time, when the kid is 15, they go to see him and they take him for a ride. Up till this point, the kid has never said more than a word at a time, and even that was a rarity.

As they're driving along, the kid, out of nowhere says "Jesus died for us. Jesus saved us." The parents turn around in complete shock, not only because it was the most their son had ever spoken, but obviously because of what he said.

When they got back to the hospital the parents talked to the doctor who informed them that there had been a man in that week giving religious studies and that their son had sat there listening to the man the entire time he was there.

Now, people could say that the kid was just mimicking what he heard. But seeing as how the child had never uttered two words together, the timing and the message, IMO, can't be ignored. And it really got me to thinking...

Even those children or adults who seem to have absolutely no mental capacitity to grasp what's going on in the world around them.... So they can't communicate with the people around them but what's to stop God from communicating with them? I believe God can get through to them.

I don't put much stock in any religion. I believe what a lot of people here have said, basically lead a "good" life and don't hurt other people (without good reason anyway) and you'll be fine.

I do believe there is an afterlife. I've read hundreds of near death experience accounts and my girls father was there once and got the old "you have to go back it's not your time" line.

Either that or me Bid and Anni will all be watching the Pats games in Hell together. Although seeing how it's Hell they'll probably only get Colts games.

__________________Same as the '72 Dolphins. Now, it has become a tired and silly ritual through the years watching these graying and balding men gather each year to pop champagne corks whenever the last unbeaten team falls, and that sad clinging to the past diminishes what they did, and it if there is one thing even Pats-haters can agree on, it's this: a 19-0 Pats team makes that annual ritual disappear, mercifully, forever.

There's so many different points of discussion that have been brought up here that I can't say everything I'd like to. So I'll jump to one point.

When I was in college, one of the campus Christian groups sponsored a debate on the existence of God. They brought in a renowned, accomplished speaker who had done several such debates to do the pro-God side, and a Religious Studies/Philosophy professor for the no-God side.

I'll skip most of the detail about why I felt the event basically made the campus Christian group look like a bunch of jerks and jump to the one thing the prof said that has stuck with me all these years. (Oh man, as I write this I realize that it has been almost 10 years since this happened.)

He said that as you study the history of early man, every civilization or culture sooner or later will start claiming there is some sort of superior being, higher power, etc. that created them and that they are supposed to honor and worship and who will teach them how to live. He felt that every civilization feels the need to invent this higher power to explain things that could not be ordinarily explained, and as a way to control its people.

It wasn't until four or five years later that I thought to myself, "Couldn't it be that every civilization has come into contact with God and simply found their own way of interpreting Him, which is why there are so many varied religions that, when you boil them down, basically say the same thing?"

There has to be a God. How else is it possible that this planet just appeared here with all its environmental conditions magically set up just right to support so many varied forms of life? It just doesn't add up. It's like a speaker at another Christian presentation I was at in college said - say you take all the components of a watch, put them in a box, put the cover on the box and shake it up for five minutes.

Now, what are the odds that, by the random shaking, the parts will come together perfectly in the right order and make a functioning watch? Possible? Yes. Likely? Not at all.

__________________I AM A MAN POSSESSED BY MANY DEMONS!

Polite demons, who would open a door for a woman carrying too many parcels, but demons nonetheless!

Originally posted by TrueBeliever Now, what are the odds that, by the random shaking, the parts will come together perfectly in the right order and make a functioning watch? Possible? Yes. Likely? Not at all.

Annihilus is no expert at statistics, but it seems to him that you have to take into account the vast size of the universe (not to mention throwing time into the equation, which adds a whole other dimension).

When you have a cosmos that has (as far as humans know) an infinite amount of planets contained in an infinite number of solar systems, etc., etc.....your odds of coming across a planet capable of sustaining a civilization like our Earth has is pretty small. However, it is not so small as to be unlikely. In fact, it seems to Annihilus that the odds are quite likely that there are hordes of planets out there with life approaching those of our world (or even more advanced).

Just throwing an arbitrary number out there.....let's say that 1 in 1 Billion planets has life forms like our own. That number in and of itself is quite small.....but if there are an infinite number of planets in the universe, then that makes it a whole hell of a lot more likely that there are plenty of other habitated planets in existence out there.

And an infinite number of religions (or whatever you want to call it) to go along with them.

__________________"So you know, in China....you got a lotta shit there in China, OK?" - Bill Belichick

When my boy was 2 months, we were looking at a magazine from our Church. It had a picture of Christ in it. He was on my MIL lap and all of a sudden he started cooing and got all wide eyed and excited seeing the picture. When she put the picture down to play with him, he stopped abruptly. Then she put it back so he could see and he got all excited again. We did this a few times, each time he would look into the picture, with the biggest smiles and happiness, and then it was gone when he couldn't see the picture. We tried with another pic, a non-religious one, to see if he just liked the colors or something. No reaction. Then we showed him the picture of Christ again and he started to get all crazy again.

Unlikely unless through sheer luck the artist who depicted him got Jesus dead on. Not like there were some polaroids lying around for him to work off of. ;)

I always find it funny that Jesus, Mary and all of them are depicted as white. If in fact they did exist they were from the middle-east for Gods sake! No way in hell were they white.

__________________Same as the '72 Dolphins. Now, it has become a tired and silly ritual through the years watching these graying and balding men gather each year to pop champagne corks whenever the last unbeaten team falls, and that sad clinging to the past diminishes what they did, and it if there is one thing even Pats-haters can agree on, it's this: a 19-0 Pats team makes that annual ritual disappear, mercifully, forever.

Originally posted by Benign Despot For the record, I'm not trying to change anyones mind, there are many proofs of the existance of a supreme being, but this one just doesn't hold up in my opinion.

Be careful of your wording there ;)

As far as I know, there are no proofs of the existence of a supreme being. There may be theories, suggestions, faith for a supreme being. But there's certainly no scientific proof.

__________________
"There is no future. There is no past. Thank God this moment's not the last.
There's only us, there's only this. Forget regret or life is yours to miss.
No other road, no other way, no day but today!" -Rent

As far as I know, there are no proofs of the existence of a supreme being. There may be theories, suggestions, faith for a supreme being. But there's certainly no scientific proof.

Actually I'm playing around with sylogistic proofs. I took a class in college on Philosophical Thought and Religious belief where we spent a lot of time kicking aroung the "logical proofs" of the existance of god(s).

__________________
"An image haunts me:
proceeding across a battlefield,
my father now dead,
I am up front to draw the fire.
I look back,
and one of those I was to protect has fallen."

Originally posted by Alcoholic9 I always find it funny that Jesus, Mary and all of them are depicted as white. If in fact they did exist they were from the middle-east for Gods sake! No way in hell were they white.

Originally posted by Benign Despot Actually I'm playing around with sylogistic proofs. I took a class in college on Philosophical Thought and Religious belief where we spent a lot of time kicking aroung the "logical proofs" of the existance of god(s).

I once slept in a Holiday Inn Express

Actually, one of my favorite classes in college was the art of philosophical discussion. My daughter has been taking some theology classes including one titled Non-Belief.

__________________
"There is no future. There is no past. Thank God this moment's not the last.
There's only us, there's only this. Forget regret or life is yours to miss.
No other road, no other way, no day but today!" -Rent

Originally posted by mikiemo83 and if he was they frown on pictures of the messiah anyway

__________________
"There is no future. There is no past. Thank God this moment's not the last.
There's only us, there's only this. Forget regret or life is yours to miss.
No other road, no other way, no day but today!" -Rent

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